Meeting the Impossible (A young detective and dragon meet)
by LunaraGK
Summary: One stormy night, ten years ago in the Beika district, the Kudo family finds that the world they know is stranger than they think, when something thought to be impossible crash-lands in their back yard. With what has just arrived, things can only change from here. After all, once the impossible has been eliminated, whatever remains, not mater how strange, is the truth. (AU)
1. Opalescent Lightning and Crash Landing

Chapter 1, Opalescent Lightning/Crash Landing

It was a dreary, stormy day in the Beika District. One of those rare days the Kudo family were together in their home; Yusaku was working on a story draft in the study, Yukiko was tidying up her make-up room, and the young, seven year old, Shinichi, well… He was reading Holmes, again. As time wore on, the storm outside only seemed to build in ferocity. The very air seem taught, almost as if holding its breath. The unusual atmosphere seemed to draw the young Shinichi to the window, the bright flashes of lightning and the echoing booms of thunder edging closer.

It was then that Yukiko found her son peering out the window, scolding him; "Shin-chan, you really shouldn't be so close to the window with the storm drawing closer."

Shinichi half-turned to her, one eye still observing the events outside, "But oka-san, something's about to happen, I can just feel it." He turned his full attention to the window facing the back yard.

As if to punctuate that statement, bright, multi-colored bolt of lightning struck the middle of the backyard, the peal of thunder a second later deafening. Once the bolt was no-longer burnt into his vision, Shinichi could not help but gasp at what he saw, bolting from his room, his mother calling after him.

"Shin-chan, what on earth?!"

He shouted back to her as he bound down the steps, "There's something in the yard where the lightning hit, it could be hurt!"

The commotion he was causing was enough to draw Yusaku's attention from his work,

"What in the world…?" He peered out of the study in time to see his son work the heavy back door open and run out into the rain.

"Shinichi," his parents called, "come back inside this instant!" nervous that their young son had just dashed out into the downpour towards an unknown entity, following after him.

Shinichi either hadn't heard them, or hadn't cared. He slowed as he approached the scorched ground the wounded figure laid on, and looked at what was curled up there. Its back was facing him, his best guess from its shape, size, and attire, it was that it was possibly a child, not much older than he was, if the size was anything to go by. Long dark hair trailed from the figure's head, matted and tangled in places, covering their face. They seemed to be wearing what was once a warm, feminine, dark grey coat, now littered with slashes and a few holes, wounds visible underneath the fabric. Yusaku and Yukiko now caught up, gasp at the young, badly hurt girl.

"Yusaku, we have to get her inside," she pleaded to her husband. He nodded as he bent down to pick her up. The moment he touched her, the girl's eyes flew open, as she twisted out from under his touch, turning to face them, a feral sounding hiss bubbling out of her throat.

The elder Kudos gasp and took a step back at the appearance of the child before them, but not because of the injuries spread across her face and hands, no. It was the thin coat of tan fur covering her face and hands, dull scales poking through here and there. The inhuman eyes, black sclera, almost glowing blue-green iris, pupils pulled to thin cat-like slits staring at them. The long, pointed, torn and bloody ears, pressed to the sides of her head.

Shinichi, if asked later, couldn't be sure how, but he saw past that, saw how she was shaking from her wounds, exhausted, and that those strange, alien eyes held fear. He held his hands up in front of him, trying to show her that he wasn't going to hurt her. Yukiko tried to grab for him, but he ducted away from her hand.

"Hey, you're going to be okay," as he inched closer to her, turning his hands palm up, to help her stand.

The now shivering figure looked at the boy, pupils dilating from the tight, razor thin slits, sclera fading from black, to grey, to white.

A few words slipping from her lips, in a mix of english and japanese, "(Help me), help me, (please). " She slumped forward then, as she passed out.

Shinichi caught the battered girl, and turned to his parents, "We're taking her inside and helping her." The look on his young face seemed to say that he wasn't going to be stopped in this, even by his mother or father.


	2. Treating a not-quite-human child

Chapter 2, Treating a not-quite-human child

While Shinichi had managed to convince his folks to bring the strange child in out of the rain; figuring out how to go about treat the injuries, however, was another matter entirely. It was eventually decided that Yukiko would get the girl out of her tattered clothes, and clean her wounds. No one really want to try and take her to the hospital, unsure of what the staff would think, or possibly try and do to the small girl, let alone the police, as the injuries would be cause to call them in.

After Yukiko had brought the girl to the bathroom, and had begun to remove the remains of the coat, and the tattered, stained shirt underneath, she quickly realized that the girl was even stranger than initially thought.

From what she could tell, the child's body seemed to be covered that same short tan fur, slightly thicker cream fur coating her chest, and the odd scales, which, now under the light, rather than the dim grey of the storm, seemed to gleam, like opals. A tail, limply curled across her chest, perhaps she had is coiled around her torso to keep it hidden? Quickly checking her over for anything that could serve to I.D. her, however, failed to turn up anything, save for a silver, inscribed disk on a chain, dotted with multi-hued gems. She sighed as she went to work removing the rest of the girl's clothing, a pair of simple shorts, smeared with mud, and, she shuddered to think, was likely the child's own blood.

Yukiko could now see just how badly someone had wanted to harm this girl, cuts and scrapes of various sizes and depth littered her form, the worst being a deeper cut along her back going width-wise across her shoulder-blades, and through what she could only assume was a tattoo of some sort, an ornate heart and crescent moon.

'_Tattooing a child?_' she mused, '_What kind of irresponsible parent would do that?'_ Looking again over the wounds on the girl, she thought, '_Then again, what parent would let their child get this badly hurt?_'

She gingerly picked up the limp form, and placed her down near the shower head and drain. Yukiko brought over a basin of warm water and a clean towel, and began to clean out the wounds, the small form flinching through unconsciousness when the warm water made contact with her damaged flesh.

She finished clean out the wounds about fifteen minutes later, and turned her attention to the matted mess that was the small girl's hair. She propped the girl up against her thigh, as she pulled out a comb and started to adjust the temperature of the water, determined to get the mud and other debris out of her unconscious child's hair. That took Yukiko another ten minutes to do, adding another five to rinse the wounds out again as a precaution, so thirty minutes later, after making sure there was nothing in the wounds, she began bandaging the young girl's injuries. After wrapping the all of the wound, she picked up the small child, noticing just how light she seemed.

'_Poor things, what in the world happened to you?_' Yukiko sighed as she pulled an oversized tee-shirt over the child's form, the too large piece of clothing enveloping her. She carried the girl out to one of the guest rooms, and laid her down there, making sure she was tucked under the covers, and she was at least as comfortable as she could be.

As Yukiko exited the room, she was greeted by the worried face of her son, and the thoughtful face of her husband.

Shinichi looked up at his mother, "How is she?" concern for the strange girl scrawled across his face. Yukiko picked up her son, and just held him for a moment.

"I've done the best I can, Shin-chan. We'll be able to help her more, I think, once she wakes up." With that statement, there was little else for the Kudo family to do but wait until the young girl woke up.


	3. Nightmares and Elemental Surges

Chapter 3, Nightmares and Elemental Surges.

_Her heart thudded in her chest as she ran from the figure with the sword. Short child's legs pumping with more strength that one would think possible. She was faster than a human child would be, but it still wasn't fast enough, the sword bit into again, her back now, across her shoulder blades and clan marking. She swung around hand held up, chanting under her breath, eyes and the odd swirling marks on her cheeks and hands burning a cold blue, as a wave of of ice rushed towards the swordsman. He jumped to the left to try and avoid the wave of ice spikes closing in. Seizing the opening, she tried to run again, thinking she just might be able to get away. Arrows suddenly find purchase in her lower back and hip, sending her toppling head over heels, a yowl of pain escaping her lips. Archers. she hadn't seen them before, cursing the fact that she missed them. Her eyes now burned dark, purple rimmed black, the markings' color bleeding from ice's blue to darkness' black. The hunters took a step back as the shadows around them seemed to darken further. With an fierce howl from the small girl, the very shadows around them pulsed and…_

Shinichi had been camping outside of the girl's room, waiting for her to wake up, when he began to feel cold seeping out from under the door.

"Oka-san," he called, "did you turn on the ac in her room?"

"What? No, why would you think that Shin-chan?"

Yukiko called as she came up the stairs. She went over to the door, and felt the chill seeping out from around the door.

"...What…" She put a hand on the doorknob, before pulling it away quickly, the knob had been so cold it had started to develop a layer of frost.

"That… can not be good." Yukiko muttered as she stared at the frost creeping out from around the doorframe. She rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a wash-cloth and used that to open the door. She and Shinichi were immediately greeted by a blast of cold air.

Shinichi stood there, boggled as he watched the frost radiate outwards from the bed the injured girl was laying on, he saw as she thrashed about, whimpering from whatever dream or nightmare assaulted her.

Yukiko dashed for the steps, bellowing down them, "YUSAKU! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" before going back to the spare bedroom.

Shinichi had already gone in, and had managed to hike himself up onto the bed, thinking waking her up would be the kindest thing to do now. The girl curled in on herself, tears leaking from her tightly shut eyes, and what was left uncovered of her markings, as well as the lower half of her hair, the colors started to change once more to that dark purple-rimmed black.

"(No, no.) STAY AWAY!" she shrieked in her sleep, as the shadows in the room grew longer and darker.

Shinichi laid a hand on her shoulder to shake her, "Oi, wake up!"

That one touch sent her bolt upright, as she skirted back against the head-board, irises the same purple-black as she looked around frantically, before she noticed the young boy before her, trying to get her to calm down.

"I.. I…" she stuttered, chest heaving as she gulped air down, trying to figure out where she was, and what was going on.

Shinichi just sat a little straighter on the bed, "Look, you're okay, no one is going to hurt you." He motioned to her, to the bandages on her. "We found you outside in the rain, hurt and frightened."

He sent a careful glance over to the door, where his mother, and now his father as well, stood. "I convinced my Oka-san and Oto-san to bring you in out of the rain and get you cleaned up. Whoever did this to you can't get you now." He inched closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "See? Everything's fine." he said as he gave her a small grin.

She looked at the boy in front of her, and then over to his parents in the doorway, and watched them for a moment. While she could smell a slight scent of fear, she began to hope was for her rather that about her. As she calmed down, the shadowy color that had started to envelop her markings, hair and eyes faded, returning to rose pink and blue-green.

"I... " She looked up at them, her long ears drooping, "Thank you," she said, and looked around the room, noticing the now melting frost and ice, "and sorry about the ice and water damage…"

She looked down, blushing profusely as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm afraid that my control isn't the best yet." She looked up at the couple, "I'll do what I can to make up for the damages. Again, sorry."

She tilted her head in thought, "Darn, I never introduced myself, did I?" She massaged her temples for a moment. "Pox-rotted nightmare has my head jumbled up, and I seem to have lost my manners."

She gingerly eased herself into a more comfortable position. "My name is Ariel Moon. Thank you for helping me and tending to my wounds while I was injured." She gives a slight bow, the most her injuries and bandages will allow.

Yusaku looks at her, curious, "What did you mean your control isn't the best, and what was that just now?"

"Ah, that," she scratches at her cheek, and seems to hesitate, "...Would you believe me if I said, Magic?" Ariel gives them a side-ways glance, trying to gauge whether or not they believe her.

Shinichi scoffed at her, "That's impossible Magic doesn't exist!."

The girl just gives him a lopsided, too-sharp grin, "I suppose that makes this conversation impossible then, doesn't it?" She blows a little eddy of opalescent flame from her mouth, to make a point. "Considering you're talking to a dragon."

She eyed them as her tail lazily waved behind her, watching their expressions, a mix of shock and disbelief, "Existence," she muses, "is far stranger than you think."


	4. Cooking and Questions, part 1

**AN: They just seem to keep writing themselves longer and longer.**

**Quick response to LLL's review: Shinichi and Ariel, the dragon, will be friends.**

Chapter 4, Cooking and Questions, part 1.

Whatever point Ariel had been trying to make was quickly waysided when her stomach let out a hungry rumble.

"Could I perhaps make something to eat before I go into further explanations?" she asked sheepishly, a blush, faintly visible under her fur, crept across her face.

Yusaku Just let out a laugh at the her question, "Well, I suppose it would be rude to interrogate you on an empty stomach." He gave her a smile to take any edge off his words as he walked over to her. "I'm Kudo Yusaku, this is my wife, Yukiko, and my son, Shinichi. Do you need any help getting downstairs, Moon-chan?"

She looked at him, her expression slightly perturbed, "It seems so, and just Ariel is fine."

She made her way over to the edge of the bed, and Yusaku gingerly picked her up and slowly put her on the floor. Shinichi dropped down off the bed next to her, and looked up to his father.

"Shinichi, would you mind helping Ariel-chan get around?"

"Okay, Oto-san." He said, taking the her hand as he helped her out of the room.

After navigating down the stairs and into the kitchen, made difficult from the stiffness forced by the bandages, Shinichi and Yusaku sat down at the table, and motioned for Ariel to do the same.

She shook her head, bandaged ears swaying as she did. "I'd like to cook, or at least help with it, as a start to make up for the damages and inconvenience I caused." She looked up at Yukiko, "May I?" she intoned at the young mother/actress.

Yukiko beamed at the unusual girl, "My, so polite, and considerate too." She bent down to give Ariel a gentle hug. "Thank you for the offer Ariel, but you're injured, I couldn't let you chance aggravate your wounds helping."

The young girl sighed. "Then, perhaps, I could at least give you a recipe and do some of the light prep work?" she suggested to Yukiko, hopeful to help in some way.

She smiled at Ariel's idea, "I think we can work with that."

Ariel gave her a grin at that, and followed by a jaw-cracking yawn, showing long, sharp, feline-like teeth. Yukiko blinked, off-put for a moment by the accidental display. Ariel shook head after the yawn, to clear her head, long fluffy ears swaying.

"So," she said, looking up at Yukiko, "what do we have to work with, ingredient and spice wise?"

Yukiko tilted her head back, "Well, I think we have some chicken, onions, garlic, maybe some bell peppers, um…" She opened the fridge to check, "Let's see. We do have bell pepper, oh hey, we have some green onions."

She continued rummaging around, "Sugar peas, carrots, and celery. And we have rice in the pantry" She turned back to look at the her little guest. "Can you make anything with those?"

"Um, depending on what spices you have available, I can make either a stir-fry, or a saute, Kudo-san." She looks up at her, large blue-green eyes shining with amusement.

"Oh, you can just call me Onee-chan if you want, Kudo-san is my husband." She gave Ariel a light chuckle. "So, spices, we have… Pepper, dried hot peppers, um, let's see, this is… Turmeric? When did we get this? Ginger, ...cyan? Where, nevermind, jasmine, white pepper, mustard powder, vinegar, soy sauce, fennel seeds, vegetable oil, and… oregano…"

She looked in the spice cabinet with some confusion, "Yusaku… do you remember where we got some of these?"

"I think we got them when you felt like experimenting with foreign dishes." He chuckled at his wife's confusion.

"Well, I could make either with those. Do any of you have a preference?" Ariel piped up, momentarily forgotten in the confusion.

"Stir-fry sounds good." Shinichi intoned, he'd been silent watching, studying the supposed "dragon" in-front of him.

She gives him a warm grin, "Stir-fry okay with you, Kudo-sans?" Ariel inquired to the young couple.

Yusaku just chuckled, "That's fine."

The young dragon turned back to Yukiko, grinning happily, "Then let's get cooking!"

Ariel had manage to turn "light prep work" into preparing most of the meal before Yukiko caught on. Mostly through misdirection and distracting conversation, meaning she answered the Kudo family's questions about her, and asking them questions in kind.

Yusaku watched with mild amusement as his wife failed to notice the skill the little girl was taking in preparing the meal. "So, Ariel, you said you're a dragon, can you prove that?"

She stilled a moment at that question, setting down the knife she had been using. She looked at the bandages enwraping her arms and hands, flexing her small fingers as she did.

"Presently, no." She turned to him on the stool she was standing on. "As injured as I am, trying to shift would end… Badly."

Yusaku arched an eyebrow at that response, Shinichi, however beat him to the question on the tip of his tongue. "Shift? What does that even mean?"

She turned one feline-like eye to the boy, "Shift, shapeshift, to change one's form." She turned back to the cutting board and resumed both cutting the vegetables and the explanation. "Shapeshifting is… complex."

She tapped the flat of the knife against the board as she decided how she wanted to proceed. "Depending on what method of shape-shifting one is capable of, while as injured as I am, for example, it can ether be fine to change shape, or life threatening."

She moved the finished vegetables, the bell peppers, from the board and into a bowl set aside for them before she spoke again. "What it boils down to however, is how one shifts, and how much of the change is… I want to say, 'cushioned'."

She pulls the celery over to start working on that next. "The vast majority of shapeshifting is in some way or another, arcane."

The steady rhythm of knife seemed almost out of place or wrong considering where the topic of conversation seemed to be going.

"What I mean by cushioned is how magic energy is used to help the change along. It can be any number of things, or any combination there of. Common examples would be easing or erasing pain caused by the movement and/or alteration of internal organs, muscle, and bone structure. Dynamic changes in mass, like gaining or losing limbs, size, things of that like."

She waved her free hand at herself, "I do not have a fine enough control over my magic yet to try and attempt to shift while this badly cut up."

Her fluffy ears pinned to the side of her head in agitation. "I can't claim fluid form yet. Because of that, little of my magic is used to dull the pain, while the majority of it fuels the radical changes in body structure and mass when I take on my fully draconic form."

She paused, her knife halting for a moment. "If I were to try and shift now? The cuts and other wounds would only split open wider and deeper. Possibly rip my hide open rather literally." There was a very dark, unamused snort heard, "I'd rather like to avoid that."

The sounds of the knife resumed. "That's impossible!" Shinichi sputtered, trying to understand and process the girl's explanation. "And you you still haven't proved magic is real."

Yukiko had paled some at the rather graphic description, and Ariel sighed. "I think I'll be healed in about a week's time if you'd like a demonstration of shapeshifting then." She rolled her less injured shoulder after she added the celery to the bowl.

"I have a few less complicated spells I've got down pat, if you'd like to see some of those after dinner."

"Oh?" Yukiko intoned, trying to steer the conversation away from the graphic explanations. "What kind of spells?"

She hummed in thought for moment while she picked up the sugar peas, these being simple to prep, and thought on which would be best.

"Well, one of my favorites is a spell commonly dubbed 'Spider Climb'. I imagine the name would make what it does obvious." Ariel pause for a moment, tail curling around her legs. "Although I don't think I'll be doing that one."

"Why ever not?" Yukiko asked, curious as to why she wouldn't do something she seemed fond of.

Ariel look at them, somewhat embarrassed. "One, I rather think you'd find it hard difficult to clean footprints off of the walls and ceiling. Two, I find it to be a bit… drafty currently." Heat rose in her cheeks as she turned back to the peas, blush vibrant even through her fur and bandages.

"...Oh." Yukiko realized what she meant, "I see how that might be a problem."

Yusaku sat quietly for a moment, musing over some things he had noticed about her actions and speech. "Ariel-chan, may I ask how old you are? You seem rather intelligent and well spoken for someone so young."

She froze up for a moment, just a moment, before softly answering, "Nine. I'm nine years old." She looked at them, tiredness etched itself in the lines around her eyes. She was far too young to have such dark bags under her eyes. "You're not the first to comment on that, though most tend to far less polite about it." A bitter, humorless bark of laughter rang out. "Most find me odd at best, down-right creepy at worst, granted, most who are of the later bent tend to be Hunters."

She stops, eyes unseeing as they glaze over with melancholy haze, focused somewhere or somewhen else. "I suppose if anything, it's because I was forced to grow up very, very fast. I've only had my ability, my magic, shapeshifting, what-have-you, for four short years… Before that, I was physically indistinguishable from any other person."

Yukiko seemed hesitant at first, but she asked her question, "How… How is something like that even possible?"

"As I understand it? My abilities and form were forced into dormancy." Ariel blinked, becoming aware of the present again. "I never was normal, mentally. Never really felt like being human was right, even then." She gives a rather tired sigh, "I suppose they could make me look human, but couldn't mess with the way my brain was wired."

Shinichi blink, silent for a moment before, "If you're abilities were, 'suppressed', was it? How do you look like this then?"

Ariel turn, a sad, bitter smile on her face. "The ones who places the suppression on me? They recorded quite a bit about me before they did so. And later pieced together that I was likely a very rare type of dragon. By the time they had, however, the suppression had been active for too long. I was stuck 'human'."

He gave her a flat stare, "That still doesn't expla-"

"I'm getting to that," She snapped. "They had dug up some old texts that stated a way to cause an awakening, or re-awaken in my case." She was silent for a while, breathing shallow as she tried to keep herself calm. Then in a quite, shaky voice, "Extreme emotional distress. That was the quickest and surest way for them to do so."

She eyes flashed darkly at the memories. "_Do__ not_ ask me how they caused it, suffice to say it ended badly." She turned back to the forgotten peas, finishing them quickly now, hands shaking. She remained silent for a while after that as she started on the onion, the only sound the rasp of the knife against the cutting board.

"My turn for some questions now." She broke the awkward silence, not looking up, "Why, exactly, did you help me? Rather, what made you decide not to take me to a doctor or hospital?"

Shinichi just stared at his parents for a moment, "We helped you because you needed it." He sat silent for a moment, trying to collect his thought. "I saw you in the back yard after that weird lightning strike, and well, when we got to you and you reacted like you did, I knew it was because you were afraid." He sat there, legs swaying. "I don't know how I knew, I just… did." He scratched his head with some confusion.

She dips her head, "Thank you for that. But that doesn't explain why you didn't try and take me to a doctor." She turns to Yusaku and Yukiko for the answer.

Yusaku was the first to speak, "We gathered from your injuries, someone meant to do you a great deal of harm, and if we took you to a hospital, well, given your… unusual appearance we thought someone would be likely to try and take you away as an object of study."

Ariel paled under fur at that thought, and Yukiko looked ill at the idea.

"We chose to err on the side of caution and treat you here if we could."

"Thank you, again, for not doing that." Ariel turned away from them. "I would have likely reacted violently to waking up in the hospital. Bad memories." She was looking elsewhere again after that, before shaking herself back to the present, and resumed chopping the onions.

"Am I correct in guessing 'Yukiko-neesan' took care of cleaning and dressing my injuries?"

"That's right! Oh!" Yukiko pulled the silver chain and disk from her pocket. "With everything that happened, I forgot I was still holding on to this." She set it on the counter next to Ariel.

"My…" She dropped the knife on the board and swiftly fastened the clasp behind her neck. "I was so worried I'd lost it." Silence reigned for a few moments while she brushed the silvery disk with her fingertips. "Now," she resumed, sliding the chopped onions into the vegetable bowl, "onto less morbid topics, I hope."

She turned back to them, "Might I ask what the two of you do for a living? You adapted rather quickly to dealing with something so… unexpected." A smirk found its way onto her face, then turned back to the bowls of prepped ingredients, "Though I suppose that can wait until after one of us starts actually cooking."


	5. Cooking and Questions, part 2

**Chapter 5, Cooking and Questions, part 2.**

Yukiko blinked at the that, then turned to look at the bowls. While she had taken care of preparing the chicken and the carrots, Ariel had managed to finish the rest of the prep work.

"How… How did you get this done so fast?"

Ariel chuckled, "I'm use to cooking for a rather sizeable group of kids my age and younger." She turned an amused grin to the Kudos, "Still curious as to why you're not freaking out at a non-human sentience in your kitchen, by the way."

Yusaku just shook his head and smiled slightly, "Well, I'm a mystery writer, and while I do deal in the crime genre more than anything, well…" He trails off; a flash of white, the silvered glint of glass, and a self-sure grin flashed through his mind. "I've dealt with a few things of a should-be impossible nature before, so I'm a bit flexible with this sort of surprise."

He gestured towards Yukiko, "Yukiko is an actress by trade, so she has to be able to adapt." Yukiko gave him a flat look,

"I think you're giving me a bit too much credit." She turns back to the stove top, getting the burner started after she took the wok down. "Yusaku isn't the only one who's dealt with impossibles before." She turned to the young girl besides her, "Ariel-chan, what do we add in first?"

Ariel looked up at Yukiko, "A little oil, roughly half the onions, and a half of the garlic."

She looks at both Yukiko and Yusaku, "...Okay then." She stood on the stool, marking and her eyes becoming a vivid blue, as a small globe of water formed over the palm of her hand, her fingers idelly directing the water's form to change. "Next question, I don't suppose you'd have any clothes my size do you?" Her free hand tugging on the on the oversized shirt, "Wearing just an oversized tee-shirt is a tad disconcerting."

"No, we don't." Yukiko shook her head.

Ariel sighed, "That was what I figured." She let the water, pulled into an intricate series of loops and whirls, evaporate. "If I give you some of my hoard to exchange at a later date, could I perhaps ask you to buy me some clothes tomorrow?"

Yukiko tilted her head in confusion at that, "Hoard?"

Yusaku looked at the small girl with some thought on his face, "In many mythos, dragons were said to keep hoards, vast amounts of valuables, gold, precious jewels, things of that nature, but Ariel-chan, as so young a dragon, I can't imagine you've amassed a very large one."

She looked up sadly at them, "Normally, you'd be right, but, it turns out my family had ties to a very old clan of dragons, though the clan itself was thought to have died out." Thin, bandaged arms wrap around herself, as if to try and touch the ornate crescent and heart on her back. "Until a throw-back like me showed up. As a dragon, or as close to one as I am, that hoard is mine now. The mark on my back is proof of that." '_And with the clan seal,_' she thought to herself, '_that heavy weight of fate that goes with it._'

She shook her head to clear away the depressing thought. "The clan I now represent, and technically am head of," she muttered that last bit to herself, "collected not only precious metals and gems, but knowledge as well. I know there are some rare tomes, scrolls and the like in there, as well as other things." She tapped her fingers on her chin, "I'll show you it later, you can take what you think is proper compensation for the damages."

She waved her hand dismissively, and sniffed at the air, "Yukiko-neesan, if you don't stir the the onions, they'll burn, and the chicken should be added in now."

"Oh, darn it!" Yukiko turned back to the stove and began to tend to the cooking food.

Shinichi had been sitting there quietly watching, one would have guessed his brain shut down from information overload, but was quickly proven wrong. "How… did you do that just now? And what did you mean by 'throw-back" ?"

Ariel just gives Shinichi a slight smile, "The water just now was simple manipulation, practice. As for a throw-back?" Her smile becomes slightly bitter, "Just it sounds, I'm a genetic throw-back, a lot of non-human bloodlines becoming active all at once."

She shook her head ruefully, "While the dragon bloodlines are the strongest, there's also fey, and skin-walker." She gave a small huff. "The few other dragons I've meet don't like me very much. They tend to look down on mixed-bloods."

Yusaku sighed as he leaned back in his chair, "From the sound of it, prejudice exists everywhere." He shook his head, "So," he looked her over, "fey and skin-walker, as well as dragon?"

Ariel sat down on the stool, her legs slowly swinging back and forth, "Yes. Fey, fair folk, fairy as they're also known. As for skin-walker, the most well known branch of them are known as 'werewolves'. Mine seems to be a smilodon base."

She seemed to curl in on her self. "The fact that I'm a mixed-blood is part of the reason I look like this." She gestured to herself. "A 'true' dragon, or even a half-dragon, can look completely human with little effort." Her nose wrinkled as she began to curl a loose strand of chocolate and deep-rose hair around her finger.

"A mixed like me is not quite so lucky. Often triats from the other races bleed into all forms. Hence, even when I should look human, I still have fur, long ears, feline-like eyes and teeth, unnatural markings and colors." She looked up at the ceiling, "Give time and practice, I should be able to make myself look more human. But for right now, I can't go outside without a lot of preparation."

The small girl sits still on the stool now, her tail curled around her ankles. Her small shoulders set stiffly, eyes dimmed with sorrow, "The few things I can do to make myself seem more human don't completely help though. It's either slight transformations, or illusions, but…" She trails off, anger now sparking in her eyes. "But there are people who are unaffected by illusions, and others who know what to look for in non-humans." She shakes her head, a soft growl heard. "It tends to end poorly when people do notice."

Yukiko looked up from the stove, and over to Ariel, "How so?"

She turned to the actress, an eyebrow arched at her, "Does the Witch Hunts of the Dark Age in Europe bring anything to mind? It wasn't just witches they went after." The young dragons ears slopped down almost trailing along the sides of her neck, "Anything non-human was a target. And even if the non-human had a human family? No one was spared if they were discovered."

A sigh escaped her lips, "It was those events that forced any non-human community into hiding. Letting themselves be relegated into myths and legends." A small hand ran through chocolate and rose curls, "Not everyone forgot though. Hunters still exist, many groups think anything other than human is inherently evil, and have a philosophy of eliminate once proven not human."

She bit into her lip, fingers now wound in the oversized shirt, and softly, "Remember earlier, when I said I normally cook for a bunch of kids my age or younger?" The Kudos stilled at that question, grim looks of outrage etched across Yusaku and Yukiko's faces, worry on Shinichi's. "That's part of why I have so many other kids living with me. Orphaned non-humans that no-one wanted to care for, ones thought too dangerous or risky to care for by most."

Yukiko looked at Ariel with concern, and a nagging feeling tugged at her, she almost didn't want to ask, but she had to know. Softly, "What about your parents?"

Ariel went rigid at the question, she sat stock still, breathing loud and shallow, wisps of silvery smoke leaking from her mouth and nostrils. A single tear rolled down her cheek, answer escaped in a hushed whisper, "Dead." She shook her head again, somewhat violently, "No more questions on that." Her tone was flat, forceful, stating, even at nine years of age, she'd boke no argument.

She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out, smoke and opal embers flowing out with the hissing breath, "Right." A forced grin split her face, "I thought we were gonna' stop the depressing topics." Ariel desperately wanted to move a new subject, four years and it was still raw. She waved a clawed hand at Yukiko, "It'll burn, Yukiko-neesan, and the vegetables should be started." Yukiko, gazed sadly at the small girl on the stool, but accepted that was as much as they were likely to get for now, and resumed cooking.

Ariel turned to Yusaku, "So, you said you write mysteries? Like what?"

Yusaku gave a slight shake of his head at Ariel's method of subject change. "Well," he started, "I work on a rather popular series called 'Night Barron', have you heard of it?"

Ariel shakes her head, "Sorry, I haven't had the time for much luxury reading, mostly when I do, its been mostly either Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft's works."

Yusaku just stared at her from that response, "I understand you seem rather bright for your age, Ariel-chan, but aren't Lovecraft's works a bit much for you?"

Ariel shook her head, "After what I've told you so far, you really want to say that?" She just gave Yusaku a flat look.

Shinichi perked up with the mention of Holmes. "You read Sherlock Holmes, do you like it?"

Ariel gave Shinichi one of the rare genuine grins of the night, "I do," she said with a quick dip of her head, "I like mysteries in general, but Holmes is just fascinating." She gave a soft giggle. "The cases where so well thought out, and creative." She glanced at Shinichi, "I'm going to guess you enjoy Sherlock as well, normally I'd say that's odd, but given what your father writes, it's not that strange." She propped her head in one hand, "What else do you like?"

Shinichi thought for a moment, and then a glint of excitement sparkled in his eyes. "Soccer, it's really great!" He swung his arms in an arc, delight clear on his face, "Have you ever played it before?"

Ariel gave him a sad half-smile. "Use to, I loved playing it. Haven't had the chance to in years. It's kinda hard to go play soccer in the park when you look like this." She gave a wistful sigh, thick pads of her fingers drumming on the table. "Can't do a lot of things right now," she grumbled, and turned back to Shinichi. "So," she gazed at him somewhat lazily, "Holmes, soccer, anything else?"

Shinichi blushed, "Um, I'm learning to play the Violin." Ariel sat up a little straighter at that, "Really? That's amazing." A soft chuckle was heard, "You're lucky, sheet-music's always been rather difficult for me to make heads or tails of." She laced her fingers together and rest her chin on them, "I can sing alright, but trying to decipher sheet-music has always been a sticking point."

Yukiko giggled from the stove, "That's rather different from my Shin-chan then. Poor dear's tone-deaf."

"Hey!" Shinichi shouted at his mother, cheeks burning from her comment.

Yukiko, keeping an eye on the food this time, asked from her place at the stove, "So, Ariel-chan, you enjoy reading, and cooking, anything else you like?"

Ariel turned to Yukiko, with the same half-lidded lazy look, "Drawing, I enjoy drawing. I tend to stick to pencils, pens, and colored pencils. Hard pastels and black paper when I can get it." A smile had crept across the young girl's face with the thought sketching. "I tend to wind up sketching more often than not. Hard pastels are fun to work with, they can give a very ethereal feel the way I use them."

She moved her head off her hands, flexing her fingers, before pushing the knuckles of one hand against the palm of the other, a loud series of cracks and pops seemed to echo, before repeating the process. The Kudos stopped for a moment because of the noises, staring at her. Ariel looked up, blinking, once, twice. "What?" she asked, head tilted to the side, ears angled forward, twitching slightly.

Shinichi snapped out of it first, and asked, "What do you draw, normally?"

Ariel gave another jaw-cracking yawn before answering. "Creature and character concepts, costume designs, sometimes weapon ideas. I specialize in 'fantasy concept' work." She had made air-quotes at the "fantasy concept" bit, followed by rolling her shoulder trying not to aggravate her injures.

Yusaku grinned at that, "I imagine being actively aware of the magical community give you a lot of inspiration to work with."

Ariel gave a soft snort, "It's both easier and harder," she gave a roll of her wrist. "Easier, because I have a better understanding of how some things work, and just how magic and supernatural forces can affect things." She leaned back, head resting on the chair she'd moved to, "Harder, because you need to tread lightly so as not to offend anyone."

Yukiko looked up from the stove, burners off, and moving the wok aside. "Dinner's ready!" she sang out, "Now, let's see how good this recipe of yours is, Ariel-chan." She gently poked the end of Ariel's nose, making her go cross-eyes momentarily, and amused smile on both their faces.

"It smells good though," Yusaku said as he got up to set the table.


End file.
